STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Hurricane Irene brought out the worst in two Staten Island men, who police say broke into a boarded-up South Beach deli in the evacuation zone, only to be foiled by vigilant neighbors.

Police said Jimmy Vargas, 46, of the 100 block of Cedar Grove Avenue in New Dorp Beach, was still cowering inside the El Jardin Deli & Grocery at 274 Sand Lane when officers arrived to arrest him at 8:45 a.m. yesterday.

A second suspect, Vincent Collazo, 45, of the 300 block of Sand Lane, was found loitering nearby, police said.

One neighbor, Edgar Arroyo, described the scene:

About 5 a.m., he looked out his window to see a man -- not Vargas, it turned out -- prying plywood off the deli to get in.

Arroyo shone his flashlight and yelled, "What are you doing?" and the man responded, oddly, "I need the flashlight!" Then he went inside.

Arroyo drove his wife, a registered nurse, to work; when he returned, about an hour later, he saw a second man wandering about and entering the deli.

So he enlisted the aid of a man from a nearby coin laundry, and the two chased the intruder inside the deli and held him there until police arrived.

Collazo has more than a dozen arrests in his past since 1982, a law enforcement source said, largely on burglary and drug possession charges.

Both men face burglary charges, while Vargas was also charged with possession of burglar's tools, police said.

An employee at the deli who didn't give his name said "Everything was fine" after the break-in, and couldn't say what was taken or how much damage was done.